Tributes for Dubai’s ‘Gentle Giant’

Giorgio Ungania with his son, Sky Ungania, in this photo taken in 2010 at a TEDxDubai Change event, when the child was 11. Courtesy Ungania family

DUBAI // A Dubai resident fondly remembered as a vocal champion of the emirate and a vibrant link between Italy and the UAE passed away in hospital on Sunday.

Giorgio Ungania, 46, died at Rashid Hospital in Dubai after going into cardiac arrest on Wednesday, his friends said. He leaves behind a wife and son.

Nicknamed the “Gentle Giant” (il gigante buono) by friends, Mr Ungania was a senior manager with the Dubai Expo 2020 team. Previously, he was a curator of TedxDubai.

People took to Twitter and Facebook expressing their sorrow and detailing the void Mr Ungania left behind.

“It is hard to describe how much he meant to the Expo 2020 Dubai team, collectively and individually – he was a beloved colleague and friend,” said Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE Minister of State and managing director of the Dubai Expo 2020 Higher Committee.

Mr Ungania moved from Italy to the UAE more than a decade ago to work in the media.

Friends and business associates said he had been an inspiration in his various roles, from producing an official YouTube channel for the Dubai International Film Festival to, most notably, curator of TedxDubai, launched in 2009.

“His positivity is what I will always remember; he was larger than life in everything,” said Rateb Joudeh, a television producer who had known Mr Ungania for two decades.

“He was very tall and was great in everything he did, so in Italian we called him ‘il gigante buono’. He loved music and was a guitarist. He loved Dubai so much.”

Mr Joudeh started a Facebook page after Mr Ungania’s cardiac arrest to allow people to pay their respects.

“When people heard, they started calling from all over – from Italy, the UK and all over the UAE,” said Mr Joudeh.

“There were so many enquiries we needed to start a separate page. People wanted to pray, some wanted to meditate, others wanted to sing.”

Giovanni Favilli, the consul general of Italy in Dubai, looked back on one of his more memorable experiences with Mr Ungania, whose civil service marriage he attended, at the consulate, two years ago.

“I will always have a special memory of him because I celebrated his marriage at the consulate in 2012,” said Mr Favilli.

“That created a special link between us. He was always friendly and collaborative. Giorgio was a fundamental link between Dubai Expo and Milan Expo. He was a tall, kind man and his loss will be felt greatly.”

Others said he had changed their lives with regards to his role with TedxDubai.

“Giorgio was the person who gave me a chance to speak in Dubai,” said Jamil Abu-Wardeh, a media entrepreneur whose TedxDubai talk focused on the need for stand-up comedy in the Middle East.

“His work lives on solidly. He created TedxDubai and from here people have reached Ted global. Without Giorgio, there would have been no platform to speak from. Giorgio believed in sharing ideas and his work has changed the lives of many, some directly like myself, and millions of others who have viewed the talks online. He was a huge fan of what Dubai is and what Dubai represents.”

“It’s so tragic,” said Patricia Ryan, whose TedxDubai talk, Don’t Insist on English, has been viewed more than one million times via the Ted website.

“He was a dynamo for TedxDubai,” said the expatriate, who teaches at Zayed University. “He had very high standards and so does his wife, who I worked with on the Ted talks. He was there pushing for you. He was genuinely a super, lovely person and will be greatly missed because he brought intellect into the social scene.

“We need more people like that.”